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Alfred's Wars: Sources and Interpretations of Anglo-Saxon Warfare in the Viking Age
Collection of source material and crucial interpretations, offering a comprehensive guide to Anglo-Saxon warfare.
Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title. The warfare of the late Anglo-Saxon period had momentous consequences for the development of the English state following Alfred the Great's reign. This book provides acomprehensive guide, with extracts in translation from the principal sources for our knowledge, accompanied by the most important interpretations by scholars through the ages, and new introductions by the present author. It looksat every aspect of the topic, from land and sea forces to logistics and campaigning, from fortifications and the battlefield to the final peacemaking. In so doing, it highlights the significance of warfare and its organisation for the late Anglo-Saxon state, and the multitude of ways in which it was recorded and remembered.
Dr Ryan Lavelle is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Winchester.
Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title. The warfare of the late Anglo-Saxon period had momentous consequences for the development of the English state following Alfred the Great's reign. This book provides acomprehensive guide, with extracts in translation from the principal sources for our knowledge, accompanied by the most important interpretations by scholars through the ages, and new introductions by the present author. It looksat every aspect of the topic, from land and sea forces to logistics and campaigning, from fortifications and the battlefield to the final peacemaking. In so doing, it highlights the significance of warfare and its organisation for the late Anglo-Saxon state, and the multitude of ways in which it was recorded and remembered.
Dr Ryan Lavelle is Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Winchester.
400 pages, Paperback
First published October 21, 2010
About the author
Ryan Lavelle
22 books5 followersRyan Lavelle is Reader in Early Medieval History at the University of Winchester. He is Convenor of the Wessex Centre for History and Archaeology and a member of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Research.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 22, 2020
Alfred's Wars – sources and interpretations of Anglo-Saxon warfare in the Viking Age, by Ryan Lavelle, 2010, 338 pages
This one of those books where you realise from the very first paragraph that you've got a winner on your hands. It's well written, both academically and with an eye to accessibility, so you learn a lot without feeling that you are having to do mental somersaults trying to construe the prose.
To be fair, the title, Alfred's Wars, is slightly misleading. Whilst the subtitle - sources and interpretations of Anglo-Saxon warfare in the Viking Age – is less eye catching and commercial, it is more accurate in describing the content. This work deals with the long viking age, so you get lots of Alfred and Aethelraed, some of the bits in-between and then a few oddments up to William I popping over with his army.
The chapters include:
Mentalities of warfare
Friends and Foes
Organisation and Equipment (Land)
Organisation and Equipment (Maritime)
Campaigns and Strategies
Fortifications
Fields of Slaughter
Peacemaking
Conclusions
I read somewhere that amateurs talk tactics, whereas professionals talk logistics and happily this book delves into logistics and other fundamental areas instead of talking about where and how people were hacking at each other. Although it would be nice to have an account of Byrhtnoth exclaiming that it's only a flesh wound. This work goes far deeper than those of armchair generals describing the movements of campaigns.
Although this book is 338 pages long it doesn't feel like a heavy read. Partly this is due to the quality of the writing, but a lot is down to how it is broken up with maps, excerpts from wills, inscriptions on standing stones and quotes. There are some huge quotes from Hollister, Hooper, Hill & Sharp, etc, which do illustrate various points, but I'd much rather have had more from Lavelle instead. This is heavily footnoted with perhaps a quarter of the space given up to these and it's very nice to see not only where he found his information, but also the little additional details that were added in these notes. Lavelle has done a lot of research and references some very well respected experts in the field of Anglo-Saxon and early medieval warfare (Abels and Halsall, etc), plus other experts of the period such as Williams.
Considering just how much I enjoyed this book, it was very cheap to buy at something like £15. It's a cracking read.
This one of those books where you realise from the very first paragraph that you've got a winner on your hands. It's well written, both academically and with an eye to accessibility, so you learn a lot without feeling that you are having to do mental somersaults trying to construe the prose.
To be fair, the title, Alfred's Wars, is slightly misleading. Whilst the subtitle - sources and interpretations of Anglo-Saxon warfare in the Viking Age – is less eye catching and commercial, it is more accurate in describing the content. This work deals with the long viking age, so you get lots of Alfred and Aethelraed, some of the bits in-between and then a few oddments up to William I popping over with his army.
The chapters include:
Mentalities of warfare
Friends and Foes
Organisation and Equipment (Land)
Organisation and Equipment (Maritime)
Campaigns and Strategies
Fortifications
Fields of Slaughter
Peacemaking
Conclusions
I read somewhere that amateurs talk tactics, whereas professionals talk logistics and happily this book delves into logistics and other fundamental areas instead of talking about where and how people were hacking at each other. Although it would be nice to have an account of Byrhtnoth exclaiming that it's only a flesh wound. This work goes far deeper than those of armchair generals describing the movements of campaigns.
Although this book is 338 pages long it doesn't feel like a heavy read. Partly this is due to the quality of the writing, but a lot is down to how it is broken up with maps, excerpts from wills, inscriptions on standing stones and quotes. There are some huge quotes from Hollister, Hooper, Hill & Sharp, etc, which do illustrate various points, but I'd much rather have had more from Lavelle instead. This is heavily footnoted with perhaps a quarter of the space given up to these and it's very nice to see not only where he found his information, but also the little additional details that were added in these notes. Lavelle has done a lot of research and references some very well respected experts in the field of Anglo-Saxon and early medieval warfare (Abels and Halsall, etc), plus other experts of the period such as Williams.
Considering just how much I enjoyed this book, it was very cheap to buy at something like £15. It's a cracking read.
May 1, 2019
My go-to book for original sources and analysis of King Alfred and the Viking Age.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews